How to create a calorie deficit

The Deficit – How We Lose Fat

September 20, 2013

Inked by Leigh

One positive thing that has come out of topics like “metabolic damage ” and “starvation mode ” is people are learning (even though often misguided) that eating for your energy needs is necessary for optimal metabolic rate.

On the flip side, people are now under the impression that going into a deficit is a bad idea. Boy how fast does that pendulum swing, eh? I am frequently asked questions like…

“I was told by (enter guru) that I should never be in a deficit to lose fat.”

“I heard deficits make you store fat, not lose it!”

The deficit is becoming the big bad (Whedon reference) especially in those who have had any experience with disordered eating. People in those situations are often times told that “diets are bad” and “deficits are triggers or gateways.” While there can be severe cases where diet monitoring should be under the aid of a professional, it doesn’t exclude the fact that a deficit is our only means to fat loss.

If you learn how to control the deficit and what it means, maybe then you take back the power and shed its mystery.

How Energy Works

I’ve talked at length about energy expenditure and how it works. I will recap here by keeping this aspect more simple.

Every day you need you expend a certain amount of energy through these means.

We can see everything from training to subconscious decisions determine our daily energy need.

To that point, what we take in determines our daily energy status.

Meet The Adipose Cell (Aka: The Fat Storage Center)

For a long time, the adipose cell was thought to be this simplistic storage center offering up little more than extra storage space. This is similar to spaces you’d rent to hold your excessive collection of Christmas decorations. You know who you are.

But over the past several decades we are finding out how fascinating and involved these storage facilities are.

Bare bone facts:

Types of Fat Tissue – White & brown. White is most common, therefore these stats will be in reference to white fat cells.

Creation – Most fat cells are created before adulthood. After that, the majority of people fill or empty their cells. Very rarely does an adult overfeed or gain fat in excess enough to create new cells.

The Cell – The cell is connective tissue (cells, fibers, fluid) with adipocytes containing things like nuclei, receptors and those lovely lipid droplets of fat.

Size – Normal fat cell is 0.1mm but can fill or shrink depending on water and fat levels.

You have containers inside your body filled with little cells. They have tissue, liquid/water, cytoplasm, nuclei, lipid droplets and lots of receptors and signal senders to report on your health, body fat levels, and well being. That is an amazing little system and operation for only 0.1mm.

Image src: Indiana University – http://www.indiana.edu/

k562/ob.html

Adding & Subtracting Energy Stores

Before you can take something from storage, let’s understand briefly how it got there. Intake of food will lead to the distribution and storage of energy depending on the macronutrient and your current energy needs.

Carbohydrates – Is used best in circulation (oxidation). Converted to glycogen and, if in large excess of need, then converted for fat storage. It is still difficult to store as fat even in excess consumption.

Protein – Used well in circulation (oxidation). Hard to store period in any capacity though some exceptions with higher levels of training, but still small. Protein is nearly impossible to convert to fat.

Storage can still take place regardless of a surplus being present. In a day you can store and use simultaneously. Long-term storage will only take place in the event of a surplus and will stay that way until a deficit is achieved. Because macronutrient intake is rarely (if ever in free-living) based on one solo macronutrient feed, it is important to take all macronutrients intake into account. While transferring carbohydrates or protein into fat is difficult, if fat is present in circulation it will be stored versus being utilized for energy.

Pulling From Stored Energy (AKA: How Fat Loss Works)

Let’s say you are training and you’ve used all the circulating energy in the body. When this happens the body is going to turn to its stored energy sources. Depending on the training intensity, it is going to choose mainly from two sources – glycogen (stored glucose) or fat (stored fat). You can access stored protein, but it is much harder to do than people think. Protein makes up a small portion of stored energy usage unless experiencing issues of true starvation.

If we are calling on energy usage and we have none circulating, we pull that energy from stores. If we do that enough we start to pull more from storage than what is going in. You might think this is an “outdated” concept but no matter what diet system you are using, this is how it works. This is the ONLY WAY A FAT CELL EMPTIES.

The Claw Machine

I love the claw machine. You know the machine with the stuffed animals in it and the “grab” claw that is supposed to grab the stuffed animals, but never does? Yeah, that machine. I have become the master of the claw machine. You want to know why? I am not greedy. I go for what I can get instead of the best toy in the case. By doing that, I end up getting the best toys in the case. That’s my claw machine tip. Enjoy.

Let’s say this claw machine and the toys represents fat cell storage. The animals are your lipids, your stored fat. The machine is your container or cell. If the machine started to overflow

and couldn’t close, the stuffed animals would have to go to another machine. If the machine is filled to its capacity but stable, it’s ready to produce an animal when you put in your dollar.

Ready to lose fat? You have to remove those little stuffed animals (lipids) one-by-one to empty out that cell. Once all of those stuffed animals are gone, you have arrived at an empty fat cell.

As a side note: It sure would be a shame to empty out all those animals only to fill them back up again (if your goal is fat loss). Keep that in mind when you are having too many “fun” days in a row. As an exercise, visit a local arcade facility and waste a couple of bucks on the claw machine to get some perspective.

But Doesn’t A Deficit Destroy My Metabolism?

Deficits are perfectly fine and when used properly can elicit the body fat removal you need to achieve your goals in aesthetics, health, or weight class.

The issue isn’t the deficit. The issue is the time of the deficit and severity of the deficit. Even with extreme deficits there are safe ways to handle them, especially with the aid of professionals. When you see talks of “crash diets” and “ruining the metabolism” it is only part of the story. I will get into that in another article.

While adaptive thermogenesis or metabolic adaptations are a real thing, they are also a reversible thing (depending on how much fat loss has taken place).

There are many reasons to dislike deficits. The best being reason is they don’t feel good. You are purposefully robbing yourself of nutrition to achieve a goal. That goal may be vanity or health, but the body doesn’t care. Like a greedy bank, it wants what you stored to stay there. Granted, the more…endowed your fortune is, the easier it will (usually) let it go. But make no mistake, it is in survival mode. It doesn’t want you doing what you are doing. You aren’t crazy to think otherwise.

But it doesn’t “destroy” your metabolism.

But Diet Is Only One Part…Right? I Can Get The Same Results Training?

No. It’s every part. It’s everything. Look back at what I said about energy expenditure. It doesn’t matter what column the energy comes from – BMR, TEF, NEAT…It all goes into a days pot. The adipocyte or fat cell is not going to give up its lustrous beads of energy just because you are doing a really good workout in the gym and “stoking your metabolic fire!” It’s only going to release its reserves (because that is exactly what they are) when you are out of circulating energy.

Without that deficit you will never achieve the result of lower body fat. Now, how you choose to go about that deficit is open for a lot more personalization. Adding training to support metabolic activity or alter body composition are fantastic things. But that deficit, yep, it still has to be there.

Update: Due to the popularity of the article I have received a few questions specifically about muscle loss, alcohol, and special diet populations. I am working on these additions and will add them sometime within the next week. Thanks for your interest.

Update #2: You can see the answers to those questions below.

Questions – What About Alcohol? Is Alcohol Stored As Fat?

Alcohol is a toxin (technically). It can’t be stored, so it is only oxidized. The body tries to metabolize it quickly to get it out. It also has a high TEF (15-20% of 100 calories consumed). You can’t get fat on alcohol because it can’t be stored or converted. It’d be like trying to get fat off of polyblend filling used in stuffed animals. The body is going to reject it and metabolize it out.

What that doesn’t mean is that you can drink all you want and not get fat or ill. First, most people don’t drink pure alcohol, they drink beer, wine, or mixed drinks. The other ingredients of those items can have other macronutrients. Keep that in mind.

Secondly, unless you want to drink only alcohol and die from poisoning and dehydration – you are ingesting other macronutrients with yor meals. Alcohol will be metabolized before most things and essentially any fat or carbs that can, we be stored/converted to fat. Therefore, energy balance still matters.

What About Special High Fat Diets (Ketogenic)?

First, this article assumes a balanced macronutrient diet and general training recommendations. Still, no matter what diet you are taking part of, and no matter how it alters TEF or the other aspects of energy usage, fat is still pulled and used from cells in the same manner.

It should be noted that carbohydrates or insulin specifically are not needed to store fat. So yes, on a high fat diet you can still store fat. There is nothing wrong with a high fat diet, but it doesn’t really change much in the game other than fat is oxidized or used more for energy. Excess fat intake of need for daily calories will still be stored as fat.

This Article Seems Like It Is Suggesting Muscle Loss Doesn’t Take Place In A Deficit?

I noted it took place, I just didn’t note it was high on the scale of energy usage – that is a correct statement. Atrophy or muscle wasting is a very complex subject and an even harder one to measure. You may see a lot of anecdotal or even research claims about large amounts of muscle lost during dieting episodes, but these claims are often misleading. First, water and glycogen make up lean mass measurements and muscle size. In a deficit, we lose or dehydrate in various spots and in muscle as well. Most lean mass lost in a deficit is short-term (i.e. not permanent). If lean mass and strength return within a very short span of time, that is nothing more than rehydration – not muscle regeneration.

Actual muscle is a poor choice for energy usage, and while the body will take some during a deficit situation, it is small especially if the individuals are partaking in even modest protein intakes and doing general lifestyle activity. If these individuals are taking in moderate to high protein intakes and taking part in resistance training, then muscle losses in a deficit are small relative to the loss of water, glycogen, and fat storage.

Before starting any new diet and exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise and/or diet changes with them before beginning. I am not a doctor or registered dietitian. I do not claim to cure any cause, condition or disease. I do not provide medical aid or nutrition for the purpose of health or disease and claim to be a doctor or dietitian. This is merely an opinion blog. Read full disclaimer here - http://www.leighpeele.com/disclaimer